Evaluation of Rural Governance for Achievement of a Sustainable Local Government (Case Study: Rural Area Surrounding Karaj Metropolis)

This study tries to evaluate rural governance and identify its effective factors in a rural area, around Karaj Metropolis, for the achievement of local governance in central Iran. In terms of goal and nature, it is practical, while with regards to its methodology, it serves as a survey. The statistical populations of this research include 53 rural managers of rural settlements as rural governors (Dehyar), 105 rural councils, and 366 heads of village households, selected based on classification sampling within a multi-stage process. Both techniques of PROMETHEE and Analytic Network Process (ANP) have been employed for analysis, level evaluation, and classification of governance in the studied rural area. Based on the parametric method, results show that out of 53 studied local government, 53% had good governance; 25%, average governance; and 22%, weak governance. Furthermore, based on ANP Technique, the rural district (Dehestan) of Adran had the highest governance rank, while the rural district of Kamal Abad had the lowest. In general, the findings show that governance level in the studied local governments were quite desirable. Governance is a multidimensional issue with various definitions and theories thereof the villagers’ attitude towards rural governance and its indicators is restricted.
Practical implications-In the study area, rural governance is in a good position, but some of the rural governance components and indicators are in an unsatisfactory and critical situation and require serious attention for improvement. So far, there has been little attention paid to rural governance in the cities, especially in the peripheral regions of metropolitan areas. Accordingly, the present study is of considerable importance.